Barbara J. Bovenmyer: 1929 - 2007

Gym teacher helped advance girls sports

Barbara Jean Bovenmyer shared her passion for a healthy lifestyle with family and friends in addition to the girls she taught for 30 years as a physical education teacher.

"She loved to teach, she loved sports and she wanted to share her love of physical activity," said Alice Davitt, who was hired by Ms. Bovenmyer and taught with her in Maine Township High School District 207 for many years.

Ms. Bovenmyer also thought that girls should be able to compete in interscholastic sports and was a leader in the effort before and after high school girls in Illinois gained that opportunity in the early 1970s.

"She really believed in girls competitive sports," Davitt said.

Ms. Bovenmyer, 77, died of complications from breast cancer Monday, Feb. 26, in her home in Mt. Prospect, where she had lived for nearly 50 years.

Ms. Bovenmyer grew up on a farm near Winthrop, Iowa, and played high school basketball in the mid-1940s, family members said. She got a bachelor's degree in 1951 from Iowa State Teachers College, now the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. She spent two summers completing a master's degree at the University of Oregon and got a degree in 1959.

She taught in Iowa before coming to District 207 in 1955 to teach physical education at what was then Maine Township High School.

She moved to Maine West when the school opened in 1959 but returned to Maine East as the department chairwoman for girls physical education in 1966.

Among other sports, Ms. Bovenmyer coached field hockey before high school girls could officially compete interscholastically. That competition wouldn't come to Illinois until gender equality in high school sports became law with the 1972 passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments.

"We originally became friends playing field hockey," said Ann Small, a teacher and department chairwoman at Deerfield High School. "She was just gung-ho on getting girls sports started in Illinois."

Small said Ms. Bovenmyer was inducted into the Illinois Girls Coaches Association Hall of Fame in the late 1980s.

Lynn Holm was one of Ms. Bovenmyer's students at Maine West from 1959 to 1963.

"She was one of those very dedicated teachers who gave of herself and her time," said Holm, a retired physical education teacher. "I was very definitely inspired by Barbara."

Ms. Bovenmyer retired in 1985 and spent time traveling and at her vacation home in Apple River, Ill. She also spent winters in Florida and Arizona.

"She was known for winning a lot of golf tournaments," Davitt said.

"She loved the peace, self-challenge and camaraderie found on the fairways and greens," said her sister-in-law Judy Bovenmyer.

Survivors include a sister, Betty Nellist; and two brothers, Leon and Jack.

A service will be held at 2 p.m. April 15 in the clubhouse at Twin Lakes Golf Course, 1200 E. Twin Lakes Drive, Palatine.